Human & Animal Health

The Spill That Changed Everything – And Not Just for the Penguins!

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the M/V Treasure oil spill, a disaster that released greater 1,300 tons of oil into the Atlantic Ocean impacting a significant number of African penguins (Speniscus dermusus). Approximately 20,000 oiled penguins were captured and brought into care. Additionally, more than 19,000 additional birds were pre-emptively captured and relocated to an oil-free environment. They were then released to return to their home range, and by that time the spill was cleaned up.

Save the Snakes @ Oilapalooza 2022!

As you may have read in Danene’s blog post last week, Oilapalooza 2022 took place October 22nd-23rd after a year-long covid delay. It was my first Oilapalooza and it is one to be remembered! Day one offered lectures, breakout sessions, and a surprise Escapely Responder Challenge Event, where I was tasked to help run the “vault” challenge. In the vault challenge, teams were given three scenarios where they needed to dress a fellow team member in the proper PPE (personal protective equipment) for the given scenario. To no surprise our participants excelled at this task!